writing for the web

Author: kcseiferth

Originally posted on Flavorwire:There’s a special place in hell for women who refuse to support other women, right? Or, if not hell, at least a central role in a classic novel. Yes, literature (particularly “classic” literature for and about women) loves a mean girl, an archenemy, or an undermining frenemy. This archetype is often realized as a charming blonde who’s either a snob guarding her place against interlopers, or a determined social climber herself. For every spunky heroine, she’s the foil. She’s the prissy antagonist who scorns our protagonist’s rough ways, while her nimble feet fight for their place on the rungs of a novel’s social ladder. She represents the apex of the idea that men can fight each other out in the open, but women are forced to be underhanded in their jockeying for alpha status. Her machinations make plots get thicker and tension ratchet up. Here’s a selection of literature’s most delightfully nasty mean girls. We love to hate them. Nellie Oleson, Little House on the Prairie Books “Laura, your poke bonnet is just utterly too-too!” says spoiled girl Nellie Oleson,…

My consumption of Gilmore Girls via Netflix has overtaken my reading of Mary McCarthy’s The Group. Do you also find that you tend to watch more Netflix on your Kindle Fire than actually reading books on it? I knew I should have bought the basic version of the Kindle. My guilt over not reading more became self-evident when Rory, played by Alexis Bledel, was spotted reading Mary McCarthy on a bus bench in the first season. Here is this fictional, high school girl reading a book that I am still procrastinating on as full-grown adult, and instead of reading, I am watching old TV shows. Rory Gilmore is the level-headed daughter of the more bohemian Lorelai, who left home at 16 because she was pregnant with Rory. Lorelai, played by Lauren Graham, comes from an upper-class family that she could not tolerate as a rebellious teen. The mother-daughter pair entrances me on my Kindle screen. I want to be both of them at the same time.They are witty and smart and all kinds of what …